News

Exclusive: Veteran talent manager and producer Lori Kay has parted ways with NYC-based production entity Fp to relaunch Prevail Artist Entertainment, a talent management and production company she initially established in 2015.

The move came following Kay’s reevaluation of her approach to her business amidst last year’s double strike, and as she dives more fully into producing. Relaunching Prevail will mean a return to a more focused and hands-on approach to client relations and, Kay says, “truly feels like coming home.”

In Kay’s absence, Fp’s primary production division Framework Productions will continue forward, with founder and CEO Steven Pierce at the helm alongside Head of Production James Allerdyce. The company’s recently established talent division Fp Artists, though, which Kay had been tasked with heading up, will be dissolved.

A producer on the genre feature Herd, released by Dark Sky Films, which had its world premiere at...

Following a successful world premiere at London’s FrightFest, Dark Sky Films today announced it has acquired North American distribution rights to Herd, an action-driven horror film and the directorial debut from Steven Pierce, co-written by Pierce and James Allerdyce. Herd stars Ellen Adair (Trick, Cryptid), Mitzi Akaha (Bashira), Jeremy Holm (The Ranger, Brooklyn 45, Black Mold), Amanda Fuller (Starry Eyes, All the Creatures Were Stirring) among others. The film, which premiered on IMAX at Cineworld to a sold-out crowd in Leicester Square, London, will be released in theaters and on VOD in October 2023.

The distribution arrangement was negotiated by Greg Newman, Executive Vice President of Dark Sky Films, and Bill Straus of Bridge Independent.

Herd tells the story of a woman trying to outrun a past complicated by an abusive father. When she and her wife end up trapped between a zombie outbreak and warring militia groups in her hometown,...

Exclusive: Mather Zickel (Better Things) will star alongside Olivia Applegate, Clé Bennett, Zoé De Grand Maison, Nicholas Logan Sam Trammell and Jessica Frances Dukes in Michael Patrick Jann’s Western horror film Organ Trail for Paramount Pictures, which has wrapped production.

The film written by Meg Turner finds a young Abigale Archer friendless and alone in a brutal Montana winter during the 1870s—fighting for survival and to retrieve her one earthly possession, her family’s horse, from a gang of bloodthirsty bandits. Zickel is playing Pa Archer, a gaunt but imposing figurehead that has a commanding energy balanced by an instinctive compassion. In the throes of a brutal Montana winter, Pa’s steadfastness and sense of purpose—along with the skills he learned as a soldier in the Civil War—are the foundation on which his family’s survival rests. Jann is producing alongside David Codron.

Zickel will next...

Exclusive: Reema Sampat (Orange Is the New Black) has been tapped as the female lead opposite Chris Sullivan in The Son In Law, ABC’s single-camera comedy pilot from 20th Television.

In The Son In Law, written and executive produced by Ajay Sahgal and executive produced by Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar, a salt-of-the-earth man, Jake (Sullivan), finds himself seeking the approval of his new fiancée Asha’s (Sampat) sophisticated parents, even as he is a difficult-to-impress father-in-law to his daughter’s longtime boyfriend.

Sampat’s Asha Mehta is an optimistic, practical, unpretentious architect who happens to hail from a wealthy and prominent family. She’s divorced from her first husband, who tried to take her into that exalted world — but she’s much more comfortable with her current boyfriend Jake, a plumber with whom she shares a nice but modest house in Queens. When Jake proposes to her, she’s happy to accept.

Exclusive: Corbin Bernsen (Showtime’s City on a Hill), Timothy V. Murphy (TNT’s Snowpiercer) and Jeremy Holm (House of Cards) have signed on to star in the horror film Herd, from director Steven Pierce.

The indie co-written by Pierce and James Allerdyce tells the story of a woman who ends up trapped between a zombie outbreak and warring militias as she tries to outrun her past. Pierce is producing Herd as the inaugural feature under his newly-minted Fp banner, alongside Allerdyce, Lori Kay, Matt Mundy and Bret Carr. Production will commence in Missouri early next month.

Bernsen is a two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee perhaps best known for Arnie Becker on 20th Television’s LA Law, who recently signed on to reprise the role in an ABC revival. The actor can currently be seen on Showtime’s City on a Hill and will also soon be seen on...

Framework Productions, whose work has included creating content for clients including Saturday Night Live, Warner Bros., CBS and Amazon, is rebranding as Fp as it expands from a video production company into a full-service creative agency. Fp is getting into talent representation and narrative feature films, including two films in development and eyed to begin principal photography this year.

The newly established talent division — Fp Artists, headed by talent manager and producer Lori Kay — offers bicoastal reach to a roster of clients across film, television, and stage. Fp is led by Head of Production James Allerdyce, who oversees creative and quality control for all projects and has worked as producer, writer and director for countless clients.

“As we’ve taken on an increasingly diverse set of projects, we wanted to create an identity that builds on our past while allowing us to grow,” founder and CEO said Steven Pierce said.

Aida Osman, KaMillion, and Jonica Booth have been cast in Issa Rae’s half-hour comedy “Rap Sh*t” (working title) on HBO Max. The WarnerMedia streaming platform also revealed today that Sadé Clacken Joseph will be directing the pilot episode.

Per the logline, the eight-parter follows two estranged high school friends from Miami, Shawna and Mia, who reunite to form a rap group. Osman, most recognized for hosting the Crooked Media Podcast “Keep It,” will play Shawna, who is described as an aspiring rapper that hasn’t seen success and continues to work her day job at a touristy hotel. Additionally, Osman is credited as an executive story editor on “Rap Sh*t.” KaMillion, known best for being the rapper/singer behind “Twerk 4 Me” and regularly appearing in the VH1 reality franchise “Love & Hip Hop: Miami,” will play Mia, a makeup artist and a single mother to a four-year-old...

Exclusive: Writer Aida Osman, host of Crooked Media Podcast Keep It, rapper KaMillion (Love & Hip Hop Miami) and comedian Jonica Booth (Bad Girls Club) have been cast as the leads of Rap Sh*t (working title), HBO Max’s half-hour comedy series from Insecure co-creator Rae and her Hoorae Productions.

Written by Rae, the series’ pilot episode will be directed by Sadé Clacken Joseph. In addition to starring, Osman serves as executive story editor.

Rap Sh*t follows two estranged high school friends from Miami, Shawna (Osman) and Mia (KaMillion), who reunite to form a rap group.

Osman’s Shawna is an aspiring rapper that hasn’t seen success and continues to work her day job at a touristy hotel.

KaMillion’s Mia is a makeup artist and a single mother to a four-year-old daughter and works three jobs.

Booth will play Chastity, a “sex work...

Exclusive: CMA Entertainment, a boutique management firm with over 20 years’ experience in developing and managing talent, will acquire Prevail Artist Management, with Prevail principal Lori Kay joining as a talent manager and producer. With the move, CMA continues to grow its management team and expand its production arm.

Kay, a principal at Prevail since 2015, brings with her a talent roster which includes Jeremy Holm, Reema Sampat, Leah Kreitz (Dash & Lily), Aimé Donna Kelly, Michael Oloyede, Paul Rolfes, as well as indie film favorite Katelyn Pearce and Broadway’s Michael Andreaus. She will be based in CMA’s New York City office.

“This expansion will greatly benefit our clients as we continue...